From A Distance
by SocraticMethod
Summary: Artemis joins a seemingly innocent online chat school...Finds that one chatgroup might hold the key to his lost memory... and his sudden isolation from his family...


From a Distance

**Chapter One: Desdemona**

_Mars X, IIXXXV_

_News from Limerick: The man doesn't know who made the contacts, but he found tiny cameras inside…I am determined to understand… I have dreams…_

_The jet plane was too small, too abrasive upon my eardrums and shook too violently for me to assume that it would not fall apart upon my crossing its threshold. This was, however, the only choice I had– but that statement is not quite truthful. I would not hear of the other choice. My sentence: A boarding school, like St. Peter's. Garish, full of pustule­-covered teenagers eating "freedom fries" and discussing matters they didn't understand. However, this does not mean I have to attend… There is a separate schooling program called CyberHIGH._

_Thanks to this daily forum, I've been enjoying the freedom of being schooled online, where your identity was not needed and true intellectual capacity required. True, there were some that would rather debate erotica and tabloids, but those were few. The discussions were generally interesting; depending on what subject the other members brought up. There was one group that brought up the most interesting subjects; a Chat Group called Invisible With Wings. I had a strange flashback of the dream…_

_Sometimes it would be interesting to drop in on one of their private conversation, (via MoleRAT, my hacker device,) and see what insane nonsense others talked about. One identity, PoliticalRant13, posted extremely frivolous lectures discussing the government, which were always amusing to read. Bi6Head also commented on the political situations, but was frequently more biting and sarcastic than his counterpart. 10thMuse posted nothing but poetry and AllThatJazz7 kept a steady journal about the performing arts and what she had been playing on her instrument. M00n77 was didn't write much, but he kept a daily astrology calendar. _

_I posted nothing. I was too overwhelmed by the tidal wave of opinions. And these people already knew each other anyway…I could not fit in with O.W.C.E, they were not geniuses and their language puzzled me. They were eloquent enough and researched their subjects thoroughly, but I still was out of place in their world…Besides, I would confuse and irritate them with my ideas and observations, which were too wild and unpredictable. _

_Then another member joined the group. It was a girl going by the name of Demodocus88. At first I was furious with myself for not going as well, but then I saw that she already was part of O.W.C.E. She was the administrator of O.W.C.E, in fact, but she had never posted anything until now. Philosophy, Prose, Poetry, and Plays were her specialty (as her profile boasted openly.) She wrote in her first post that she had wanted to be called Random, but that someone already had that name. Everything from Fiction to Current Events. She was open and friendly, but her writing was very shy, prone to later edits were both added and subtracted from the subject… I read the group's chats almost obsessively, reading between the lines, figuring out the characters of the writers, and laughing at their frequent tomfoolery._

_But only one became my beacon. I followed Demodocus' column and all of her actions until it became a schedule for me to read the posts and then the chats in turn… I broke into her chat tools and saw one of her Away Messages (made, no doubt, with one of her friends,) was "I'm Changing Right Now." The friend, (whom I suspected was AllThatJazz7) went into great detail about which article of clothing Demo was taking off at the moment…I was shocked and amused at the same time, and also felt the perverse urge to read it again. I refrained from doing so, however._

_They, however, soon saw through MoleRAT and proceeded to lambaste me for spying on them whenever I accidentally left the chatroom. When I came back, there would be a string of insults and reprimands enough to raise hackles. They'd be gone. And I wouldn't dare follow them again… for the day. _

_One of their chats:_

**Demodocus88: ** hey guys!

**10thMuse:** AWAY MESSAGE: Lady Juliet is away, she will come again another day…TO Bi6Head: Your lust does not serve you well, I wish your soul would rot in hell….

**Demodocus88: ** Dang. Is anyone here!

_**A11ThatJazz7 has signed on and is now online**_

**A11ThatJazz7: **"Hi Everybody" (Quote: Dr. Nick, The Simpsons)

**Demodocus88: **Cricket, cricket …

**A11ThatJazz7: ** Glad to see you too, Demo :P

**Demodocus88: **So, we meet again… for ze last time!

**A11ThatJazz7:** Okayyy…we've only known each other for like 5 years!…

**Demodocus88: ** Overlooking that last comment…. Did you read my post on morals in the linguistic system?

**A11ThatJazz7: **Ya coughs…VERY interesting, loved it…okay, now I'm sounding like we do when we actually comment on something…LoL

**Demodocus88: **did u actually laugh?

**A11ThatJazz7:** STOP REMINDING ME OF THAT KID -O

_**M00n77 has sign on and is now online**_

**M00n77: **hey guys have u seen Sol–– I mean, PoliticalRant13? (This identity thing is driving me mad! )

**Demodocus88:** Now, now, M00n, it's for your own safety that u don't have a name. wags finger There are scary cyber-monsters out there, just _waiting_ to gobble you up! looks around What?

**A11ThatJazz7: **We all have names, we just are careful not to use them. Demo, shut up about "scary cyber monsters"…you know they don't exist!

**Demodocus88: **Hey that's unfair! Parents tell their kids these lies all the time! Why can't **I**? …Not that Re–ahem M00n77 is my kid, or anything…

**A11ThatJazz7:** K, cuz for a min, I thot u were saying that u were a parent…and that just freaked me out…

**Demodocus88: **I'm not helping to raise the teen pregnancy level…yuck… -P

**A11ThatJazz7:** LoL! …OR ARE U! HAHA!

**Demodocus88: **rolls eyes Hey, M00n?

**M00n77:** stops laughing hysterically (happy) sigh… ya?

**Demodocus88: ** What is virtue?

**A11ThatJazz7: ** Whatever u do…DON'T ANSWER. I got into one of these discussions w/her last night…and never got out…I'm still thinkin about it… -P

**Demodocus88: **That's the POINT of the Socratic method! Doesn't matter, anyway, all of mine back fire with teachers… pouts

_**Achille'sHeel has signed off.**_

**Demodocus88:** Ya, bye bye–– Wait. It's that guy again!

**A11ThatJazz7:** WHO THE HELL IS HE!

**Demodocus88:** I'll search to see if he's posted anything… brb…

**A11ThatJazz7: **I don't think he's there…I haven't talked to him b4, and no one I know has ever mentioned his sn…

**Demodocus88: **AWAY MESSAGE: Hey Everybody… the Poet is not in right now… Read and comment on my posts stories, plz! thx 4ever ppl… Alethea Demodocus, Playwright Philosopher.

**A11ThatJazz7:** M00n…long time no talk

**M00n77: ** Ya, I'm a proud introvert… smiles shyly

**A11ThatJazz7:** LoL…and I was laughing.

**M00n77:** LoL to you to! Say, have you written anything… I searched you several times…

**A11ThatJazz7: ** Mostly I comment, but thx anyway

**M00n77: **You should write something, it'd be really interesting, I know it would.

**A11ThatJazz7:** blushes

**M00n77:** grins NO, _seriously_, I mean it…. I'd loved to read what you have to say…

**A11ThatJazz7:** thx. Maybe we could do a joint post

**M00n77:** That would be great! What's our first topic?

_**Bi6Head has signed on and is now online**_

**Bi6Head: **Whoa, M00n, slow down there buddy…There is a speed limit, you know…grins

**M00n77: **sighs, looks exasperated Hi to you to, BH….

**A11ThatJazz7:** blushes furiously

**Bi6Head: **So _sorry_ if I walked in on something you to were doing…

**A11ThatJazz7:** OMG -O! That's enough!…

_**PoliticalRant13 has signed on and is now online**_

_**Demodocus88 is back**_

**Demodocus88: ** uh-oh… bit of an atmosphere in here, if you catch my drift….

**PoliticalRant13:** I concur… I'm guessing, being completely indifferent about the matter, that maybe…

**Demodocus88:** I know what you mean… maybe…raises eyebrow significantly

**PoliticalRant13: **nods Exactly.

**M00n77: **I don't know what's worse: B.H w/ his sick mind or Demo and 13 w/ that silent understanding…

**A11ThatJazz7:** Unfortunately, we had to go through both…and I have _no clue_ what those 2 are saying…

**Demodocus88: **Of course you don't, dear… grins But…

**PoliticalRant13:** It'd be best…will you take the tempo?

**Demodocus88: ** With pleasure… 1.2. 3.4–

**Demodocus88/PoliticalRant13: **So seeking the true essence of Beauty and Love, M00n reaches past Eros and finds a like mind. However, being tormented by Physical Desire in its most jeering form, their blossoming friendship withers. But both continue their journey, and will meet again to give birth to discoveries and happiness in Beauty for all.

**A11ThatJazz7:** …stares blankly…okay…

**Demodocus88:** You are in the middle of the Ladder of Devotion and Beauty…

**PoliticalRant13: ** B.H is stuck at base Eros, the bottom. Demo's not quite reached the top, a little past the middle…

**Demodocus88:** quickly but YOU aren't there with me, 13. You're in the middle exactly.

**PoliticalRant13:** winks I'm nipping at your heels…

**Bi6Head:** !

**Demodocus88:** sighs, rolls eyes that sent you straight back to the bottom rung, 13. Doesn't matter… I don't think you'll ever move…

**_10thMuse is back_**

**10thMuse:** I get the awkward feeling that I missed an important meeting…

**Demodocus88/PoliticalRant13:** …Cricket… cricket…

**A11ThatJazz7/ M00n77: **Um…well…heh…blushes

**Bi6Head:** Hey Charioteer-'o-My-Heart!

**10thMuse: ** Oh no This knave approaching, be he not the evil Knight of Lust, and though a screen do us part Away, foul villain, seek not my gentle heart! _Runs away._

**Bi6Head:** Hey, waitasecond…. That's not very nice! All I SAID was "Hey"

**10thMuse: ** sigh Fine… I bid you welcome knight, now PLEASE; lock yourself in that tower: here are the keys…

**Bi6Head:** Very well, I give not a care IF, in that tower, there be a bed we can share. grins

**10thMuse: ** drops all pretenses YOU HAVE A SICK MIND! And its lucky for me that it DOESN'T have a bed!

**Demodocus88:** LoL!…We'd be running for help if it did!

**PoliticalRant13: **No you wouldn't… grins erotically

**Demodocus88:** Now there's a B.W.S.M (Boy With Sick Mind)

**A11ThatJazz7:** Hey! I copyrighted that!

**Demodocus88:** Copying is the most sincere form of flattery…flutters eyelashes

**Demodocus88:** Hey guys, I decoded the Book….

**A11ThatJazz7:** You WHAT! ALREADY?

**PoliticalRant13:** You're not _that_ smart…

**Demodocus88** Thx a lot, 13… I did, with help of course….

**_Achille'sHeel has signed off._** (I nearly sent Juliet flying when she came in with tea the next moment.)

**A11ThatJazz7:** Not HIM again! blushes

**PoliticalRant13: ** Merlin's Beard that's the third time today! And he even had the nerve to read about M00n's speeding, the !

**M00n77:** blushes Stop it 13…Think of your own speeding!…

**PoliticalRant13:** Ya, but I own a motorcycle…

**Demodocus88: ** Right. That's it, I have had enough of being spied on. That guy has had his chances to talk to us; he can reap the benefits of being a coward. Parting shots everyone!

**A11ThatJazz7:** Don't you have something better to do than to spy on other kids? If not, you ought to get a life, man. This one has expired.

**ALL:** Good one JazzGirl!

**A11ThatJazz7:** Thx! blushes I'll get us another chatroom, shall I?

_**AllThatJazz7 has signed off.**_

**Bi6Head:** Right, my turn… The world would appreciate your presence if it didn't exist.

**Demodocus88:** …. What?

**PoliticalRant13:** rolls eyes Ok, _I'll_ try now… Red sock… yellow sock… Hmm, that's sad… cowards just don't seem to fit in…

**Bi6Head:** LoL, 13!

_**Bi6Head and PoliticalRant13 have signed off.**_

**M00n77:** Hey, I know the feeling…You've accepted into a genius' school… you're feeling swell… then you realize that the door you're pushing is marked, um, PULL.

**10thMuse:**

Cowards

This title causes great distress

Among people who think themselves the best

Note: Spies DO qualify

But you forget that annoying bit

When they're in suits very neatly pressed

**_10thMuse and M00n77 have signed off._**

**Demodocus88:** Sir: It is with not-so-deep regret that I must inform you that We are now officially Ex-Communicating you…We do not care for eavesdroppers and cowards (as the above posts have stated quite clearly.) You moron. You totally conceited imbecile.

You.

Are.

Low.

And.

Getting.

LOWER.

Goodbye.

**_Demodocus88 has signed off._**


End file.
